Bowl winners and losers: The BCS system is the biggest winner

Can’t help but think Texas’ game-winning field goal was the most important kick in BCS history because of what it did to the BCS: It made the flawed, oft-criticized but incredibly successful system appear fair and open.

Let’s say the Longhorns miss and Nebraska wins. That would have given Nebraska the Big 12’s automatic bid and turned Texas into an at-large team — at the expense of Boise State.

The 13-0 Broncos, with a victory over Pac-10 champion Oregon, would have been squeezed out of the at-large picture while Iowa … which has two losses, plays in a mediocre conference and is four spots below Iowa Boise in the BCS standings … would have received an at-large berth.

That scenario, more than any that have come before it, would have strengthened the critics’ argument that the BCS is a closed system.

Would it have been the doomsday scenario that playoff-proponents have yearned for — a wreckingball to the current structure?

Would it have gotten Congress even more involved than it has been to this point (for better or worse)?

There’s no way to know for sure, but we might well have been headed down that path.

Iowa over Boise State would have been a big story — and a very bad story for the system because there is more than enough evidence (from this year and past years) to indicate that Boise State is as deserving/more deserving of a berth than the runner-up from the Big Ten.

I mean, we all know how Big Ten teams have done against the Pac-10 champion the past few years.

Instead …

Texas makes the field goal, wins the game and collects the automatic bid, leaving an at-large slot for Boise State — and the system comes off looking equitable, even magnanimous:

For the first time ever, two teams (BSU and TCU) from non-automatic qualifier conferences made the 10-team Bowl Championship Series.

And how can anyone possibly argue that the system is closed when 50 percent of the spots reserved for at-large entries go to non-AQ teams?

(Don’t answer that.)

More bowl selection winners and losers.

Winner: Rose Bowl. It gets a Rose Bowl that should pack the house (Ohio State vs. Oregon) and a NCG game that will pack the house and then some (Texas vs. Alabama). Half crimson, half burnt orange, the stadium will never have looked better.

Loser: Big 12. It put a team in the NCG but has no at-large entries, which means no at-large paycheck. Welcome to the Pac-10’s world.

Winner: Fiesta Bowl. Guarantees all hotel rooms will be filled with TCU and BSU and can boast that it’s the first BCS game to match two non-AQ teams.

Loser: Orange Bowl. Once again becomes the who-cares bowl with Iowa and GaTech.

Winner: WAC schools. With Boise getting that last at-large berth, all members will receive a nice mid-six-figures paycheck. (Think SJSU could use the money? Oh, yes.)

Loser: USC. When the BCS is your standard, nothing else satisfies. As a pal of mine said: “That’s what you get for running an offense out of the mid-90s.”

Winner: Emerald Bowl. Had you told the Emerald before the season it would get USC, even a four-loss USC, it would have signed on the bottom line then and there.

Loser: Insight Bowl. It wanted no part of the Pac-10 and bailed on that partnership a few years ago. Its reward this season: 6-6 Minnesota against 6-6 Iowa State.

Winner: Hawaii Bowl. Great to see you, Coach Jones.

Loser: Cal. A sorry Saturday in Seattle dropped the Bears into the Poinsettia Bowl against Utah. If you’re excited, you’re one of the few.

Winner: Stanford. The opponent (Oklahoma) makes the location (El Paso) and the day (NYE) worth it, even if these aren’t the Sooners as we’ve known them.

Loser: Pac-10. No at-large invitation (again) and a bowl lineup that is much less than the league deserves (again).

Winner: Pac-10. But that changes next year with the Alamo filling the No. 2 slot as a second January bowl and the Holiday dropping to No. 3, the Sun to No. 4, etc.

Loser: January. There are 14 bowls, but only four qualify as must-see TV (Fiesta, Sugar, Rose and NCG).

Winner: Capital One Bowl. With Penn State and LSU, it’ll get big ratings, even if it packs little significance.

Loser: Alamo Bowl. With Michigan State (6-6) on the Big Ten side, it’s clear why the bowl opted for the Pac-10’s No. 2 starting next year.

Winner: Arizona. The Cats beat USC to jump into the Holiday against Nebraska. (On a personal note, a shout to my pals in Section 18 of Arizona Stadium, who keep the faith year after year after year. Have fun in San Diego.)

Winner (or loser): UCLA. Its postseason fate rests with the Army-Navy game. If Navy wins, the Bruins are in the EagleBank Bowl. If Army wins, the Bruins are home.